Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a non-volatile memory, and particularly a resistive random access memory.
Description of Related Art
The resistive random access memory (RRAM) is a type of non-volatile memory. With advantages including low voltage of write operations, short time for erasing writes, long memory time, non-destructive reading, multi-state memory, structural simplicity, and little space required, the resistive random access memory will become one of the non-volatile memory devices generally adopted in personal computers and electronic devices, and it is being widely researched.
Generally speaking, the resistive random access memory has a metal-insulating layer-metal (MIM) structure composed of a top electrode, a bottom electrode, and an intervening resistance-switching layer. However, in the manufacturing process of a resistive random access memory, sidewalls of the metal-insulating layer-metal structure are subject to plasma damage or contamination by impurities, which affects conductive paths (positions of a filament structure) in the resistive random access memory and further deteriorate the high-temperature data retention (HTDR). Therefore, in the manufacturing process of resistive random access memory devices, solving problems including plasma damage and contamination by impurities caused to the sidewalls of the metal-insulating layer-metal structure has become an important issue in the current development of the resistive random access memory technologies.